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ghostswillunderstand · 5 years

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Love in the time of Plaguelings or, The Outpost Season 2 and its romance plots

A bit late the party and it isn't even a particularly popular party at that, but I just had to get some of my thoughts out into the internet-ether.

First and foremost, I recall seeing someone(probably on Tumblr) remarking that the show was "depressingly straight" or some such and it is hard not to agree.

Now I don't think everything needs to be as queer as queer can be(it certainly doesn’t hurt though) and it is not like one can't do straight-romance well(watch High Seas on Netflix to see one recent and great example), but with The Outpost the lack of queerness is compounded by the terrible straightness we are given.

Here is something I never thought I would say: For the majority of the first season I kind of liked the little love triangle we had between Talon, Garret, and Gwynn. It felt refreshing to me because all three were aware of it but none of them allowed it to ruin the growing friendship between them. Garret is in love with Gwynn but has the hots for Talon, Talon has the hots for Garret but is friends with Gwynn and is content to be friends w/ sexual tension with Garret. Gwynn is with Garret, is friends with Talon, and is aware of the aforementioned sexual tension between her love and her friend. It just isn't that big of a deal for the most part, at least until the end of the season where they ruin this pleasant dynamic.

I wrote the above to kind of highlight that the show can do a decent(not great but far from terrible) romance, so the junk we get in Season 2 isn't just my lust for a Gwynn+Talon pairing coloring my view of things.

Season 2 tries to give each of the two female leads new romantic partners and they are both disasters. I actually don't mind Tobin as a character unto himself but pairing him with Gwynn does real harm to her character. The show seems to think that because he stops drinking(for purely selfish reasons) that he is no longer the boorish dick that he was before, the guy who basically walked up to a Queen he was trying to convince to marry him and said "Wanna fuck?" and then, when shot down, immediately asked her handmaiden the same. And when you have Gwynn falling for this it immediately makes her look incredibly foolish. It seems clear they are aiming for a Han and Leia type of dynamic but we never had to watch Han being a gross piece of shit for multiple episodes and then get told to ignore all that because...? Seriously, Tobin's whole "I'll stop drinking and become a better man!" thing is just so poorly conceived.

If they had played this all out nice and slow with their relationship portrayed as the political maneuver it is and nothing more, letting a romance grow out of that at a deliberate pace, I could probably see it working. But as it is, the Tobin of the second half of the season is basically a different character than his initial portrayal, the only way to accept who he is in the second half is to ignore who he was in the first. It is madness. And then to add insult to injury, we now have to contend with a probable Tobin+Gwynn+Garret triangle which is about as much "Thanks, I hate it!" as you can get.

Zed, on the other hand, is just terrible outright. Terrible and boring. He and Talon don't even really get along which makes their pairing just head-scratching. I'm not sure calling it a romance is even fair all things considered, their entire dynamic is so plot-heavy(she is no longer the last of her people, he can teach her stuff, we got to find the key, blahblahblah) that it feels like there is absolutely nothing between them as people, the only thing the have going is the fact that they don't see eye to eye on anything. So when they first get to it I was completely taken by surprise and not in a good way. Nothing between them had been leading to this and yet here we suddenly were, fucking on the side of a road.

The show seems to have latched onto the 'opposites attract' concept but did it in the worst way imaginable, employed on the show it is less 'opposites attract' and more 'people who don't like each other, like each other' and it feels as awkward as that statement sounds.

Outside of the character dynamics, the big thing is chemistry. Jessica Green and Imogen Waterhouse have it in a way that their characters don't with the men they are saddled with. Whenever Talon and Gwynn are put together on screen there is a spark in the air, whether there is a light playfulness or heavy tension the scenes between them carry a weight that isn't there for anyone else(well at least in a romantic sense, Elinor and Gertie have a great antagonist thing going on and Garret and his father really sell their conflicted bond quite well).

The show has Gwynn and Tobin having dinner together, she brings him lunch, she ogles him from afar, and none of it registers as well as any single scene between the two ladies. Scenes that have no romance in mind in the text itself.

It eventually reaches a point where you start to notice that the show seems like it wants the two ladies to always be apart, that despite being the two most important characters they have relatively few scenes together. Talon is just kind of off doing her thing for long stretches, dealing with the whole Blackbloods and all that but she does it all fairly dispassionately, it is only when Gwynn is involved(and generally in danger) that she gets all heroic and passionate. Talon riding off to save Gwynn, her Pirates of the Caribbean-esque fanfare blaring, is like the pinnacle of romantic heroism, but she is confusedly not going to save her love but rather her 'friend'.

Just a friend doing everything the love interest should be doing.

But of course Tobin, who Talon had just slapped for being a useless drunkard, tags along and we get some completely hollow "My how you have changed, Tobin." even though he hasn't really. And having been injured in Gwynn's rescue, Tobin receives the 'wounded warrior gets bedside romantic moment' with Gwynn even though he didn't do much besides get shot with a bunch of arrows.

So we are left with two awesome ladies who are given romantic partners/relationships that seem to be anchored only by the fact that the guys are handsome(and they are). But that certainly isn't enough, especially on a show where everyone is attractive. The show couldn't even cast the nerd/clown role without getting a handsome fuck in there. And speaking of Janzo, his relationship with Naya is something I'm still not sure of honestly. It was simple and sweet, which goes a long way, but not exactly riveting to watch. And then you get to the big moment and I think it was brilliant...maybe?

And I would be foolish to not mention that the show thankfully kept the sexy train going even when casting actresses over the age of 50. I am eternally grateful that Glynis Barber at 63 has been on my screen as of late, she can get it any day of the week.

Oh my, Auntie Gertrusha.

Now my little rant has come to an end and I don't really have a way to wrap it up. It feels weird to write so many words about this for a show like The Outpost. It is a fun little show of modest means and modest aims, that maybe doesn't deserve to bear the weight of such scrutiny. Scrutiny of things that it appears to have no real interest in.

But I quite like The Outpost, I like this type of meat-and-potatoes fantasy that we don't really get anymore, and isn’t thinking too much about a show the ultimate sign of love?. With swords aplenty, evil to be thwarted, honest-to-god comic characters(I can't adequately explain just how much I loved Munt in Season 2), I feel The Outpost is worth that admiration but in the center of all this fun swords-and-demons-and-whatnot we do have these feckless romances just dragging my enjoyment down.

It just sucks that after all these years, seeing the television landscape grow as it has, we still only have Xena and Gabrielle. I don't expect them to be toppled off their mighty thrones but it saddens me that no one ever even tries, that one of the reasons they sit on said thrones is because there is no one to even challenge them.

But, hey, Munt on a donkey. It isn't all bad.

#the outpost #the cw #fantasy #sword and sorcery #queer fantasy

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neoyi · 6 years

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Can you tell us about your HLD headcanons please?

Sure. I should also add a small disclaimer that a lot of the headcanons are just story ideas based on an AU where Drifter and Guardian doesn’t die, instead living out their lives in a post-apocalyptic world and their growing romance and eventual family life they create for themselves whilst uncovering Drifter’s amnesic past. I want to also add that much of these ideas are contradictory to canon since I’m just messing around the world for funsies. …It would have been a romantic comedy. Sooooo on that note…*Drifter can be incredibly hyperfixated with their interests. This largely extends to ancient ruins and past history left behind by civilizations of yesteryear, especially from blue-skinned folks like they are. It’s not just a fascination of What People Did back in the days, but an honest attempt to find any clues of their memories. *Drifter likes games, strategic games specifically. They like solving puzzles and unraveling complex mathematics. They play alien tabletop RPGs; they dig epic, long novels and can memorize obscure facts and useless trivia. They’re the kind that’d have a blog and write long-winded essays on Why This Character Had Amazing Character Development. *Drifter has something of a reputation. Having traveled around the world for years has caused the dude to get into their fair share of scuffles. Drifter’s stance is largely Neutral and the most they do is stay in a place, then move on to find more ruins and historic sights. But every so often, there might be That One Criminal who damns an entire town or some Megalomaniac who uses ancient tech to try and blow up the world and Drifter just happens to be there. With their sword and gun. Wasting the shit out of That One Criminal or that Megalomaniac. And perhaps in time, Drifter became a bit of a legend, the “Red-Cloaked Hero”, the “Savior”, “The Crimson Drifter” or whatever inane nicknames the people named ‘em. Drifter has become a symbol of hope and in these struggling times, some people gravitate towards that. For all Drifter claims neutrality, they don’t sit back when people need help, but it comes with baggage and people tend to recognize them - both the decent folks and the jack-offs who seek to kill ‘em for their own means. All Drifter wants is to be left alone, man. *One of the things I’ll never find the time to do is create small, one-off comics of Drifter getting into all sorts of adventure. Most of these would be wordless and the situations could range from anything to Drifter helping archeologists unlock lost history and fighting a giant robot inside or something like saving a princess in a far-off kingdom from a monster or stuck pulling a heist with some well-meaning thieves. Whatever comes to mind.

*Drifter has helped other drifters and archeologists with their research because for some very odd reason, they can unlock specific tech and locales that even other blue-skinned folks can’t…*Guardian is the son of a farmer and a drifter. His mother settled down from drifting life to tend to the farm with her husband (who is far from a warrior as you can get.) He has an older brother who currently travels the world, getting by through trade stories and inventing weird things. Guardian left the farm shortly after his father died (a stack of alcoholic beverages landed on top of him one day) to travel the world to pursue his dreams of studying history of ancient civilization. He settled in Central at some point and has stayed there since. He keeps in touch with his family.

*Guardian’s real name is “Tim.” I got that name from a joke from an HLD thread I read a while ago. He also has a last name, but it cannot be written here for it is very, very, very long, and contains letters that aren’t even in the current alphabet. *Guardian is into kitschy decor. He unironically loves curtains with corn cob patterns or their world equ. of garden gnomes in his garden. I have a jokethat Guardian must be written to be the most blandest guy you could ever meet. He talks endlessly about the potatoes he’s grown in his backyard, goes to bed at a reasonable hour, and can listen to his neighbor talk about the structure and kind of bricks he used to build his house. Guardian is unassuming, but kind.

*Incidentally, this is why Drifter eventually fell for Guardian and chose to stay in Central: he gives Drifter a solitary, quiet life that they want. Drifter’s gotten into enough shenanigans - whether they wanted it or not - and damn it, they’re just tired. Adventure will always come to them because their need to explore old ruins and tech and those tend to invite trouble, but at least they can do it together! Once they’re finished, Drifter also has a home to go back to that gives them the respite they need.

*Drifter totally had a one-night stand with the Dashmaster. This is not scandalous news in Central because a frighteningly number of people have had one-night stands with Dashmaster. Because he’s Dashmaster.

*Guardian has two jobs in Central: he, along with other volunteers, guards and patrols outside of Central for monsters or any signs of danger. He’s also a teacher at the town’s only school. Subjects vary, but it’s mostly history on his end.

*The Swordmaster is Guardian’s best friend. The two (and a couple of other buddies) hang out at the local bar every week.

*Drifter was the one to propose to Guardian. That was the unexpected part because at that point, they’ve already been discussing marriage. They both just assumed Guardian would propose. *Drifter only ever won once against Soccer Kid. Once.

*Drifter only wakes up early whenever they’re not in town because it’s practical (gotta cover as much ground as possible when you’re on the move.) Whenever they’re in inns and other shelters though, they sleep in. (Guardian always wakes up at the crack of dawn. He is often subjected to pillows being thrown by Drifter whenever he gets too happy in the morning.)

*I haven’t decided where Drifter got their current clothing. I think Drifter got their helmet off of a dead soldier, the cape probably off of another drifter’s corpse, and maybe Drifter - in one of their rare moments - splurged a little on their boots. They’re good quality boots and you need ones that last!*Drifter used to own an old motorcycle they used to travel around for a bit. It got too damaged and had to be abandoned eventually.

*Drifter’s favorite food is red meat. Guardian likes potatoes. *Restless and/or impatient Drifter involves them chewing on things, tapping their fingers, or shaking their legs.

*Guardian’s method of organizing is mostly pushing books and materials off to the side as much as possible. Once Drifter gets the hang of daily chores, they tend to go far enough that things must be alphabetized, we are not animals Guardian. *Drifter is practical enough to be able to fix their clothes whenever it’s damaged, but Guardian is the superior seamstress. He’s also better in the kitchen. Course, a lot of this stems from the latter having lived in civilization most of his life while Drifter mostly learned what they needed to survive. The latter tends to take advantage of what towns offer (ex: they eat conservatively when out in the middle of nature, but stuff their face in taverns because they have the opportunity to do so.)

*The stray dog that wanders near the eastern sector of Central ended up following Drifter when the latter, feeling a tinge of pity, gave the pup some food. The dog has never left Drifter since. This bothered Drifter at first since they had no use for a pet, even going as far as naming the dog “Babo” (”stupid” in Korean), but damn if the dog did not grow on ‘em. (Incidentally I actually drew out most of the pages of this comic, but I never inked or posted them up online.)

*Life before Drifter was well, a drifter, was spent during the last remnants of the blue-skinned (yeah, I never thought of an actual name for these guys) civilization: in the midst of the great war that screwed them over. They were the [NAME REDACTED], child of the Librarian (herself a big contributor to the giant Titans) and a cut character from the game: Rivan. The latter was the last King of their civilization and, well, he was nicknamed Mad King Rivan for a reason. Knowing he was off his gourd in his mad pursuit for power, the Librarian stepped off the Titan project and got the hell out with intent on living a peaceful life alone with her than unborn child. Drifter spent most of their childhood with their mother with no acknowledgement on who their father was. The Librarian spent her time creating the pendant (and Drifter’s companion bot), containing memories of their time, and as much information on their culture as possible, slowly realizing over time that the end was nigh. The Librarian sent Drifter to safety during the last days of their civilization. Drifter was placed in a pod, frozen in time until they eventually woke up with no recollection of who they are. Drifter has no idea the pendant and their companion bot has pretty much all the info they could need (it also requires solving a complex algorithm to unlock the info, too.)

*That said, Rivan is still alive and he not only intends to bring his kingdom back (a big reach in and of itself at this point), he knows he has a child…

I think that’s all I can think or muster. Hope this is good enough.

#hyper light drifter #anonymous #neoyi talks

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kierantc-blog · 7 years

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Marvel announces Legacy Initiative - The Good, The Bad, and The Worries

Today Marvel announced a new initiative for their lineup called Marvel Legacy. They’ve teased it for a while and today they’ve slowly released information about the lineup in the form of GIFs comparing the new Legacy on-going covers with older, classic covers. A remix if you like.

As of now, Marvel Legacy will contain 52 on-going titles, amongst them are current on-goings such as Amazing Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel, mixed in with some new ones and some slightly changed ones. Here i’m going to take a look at the best and worst of these titles and see how Marvel’s Legacy really holds up.

The Good

The Fantastic Four are back! Kind of. Well, half of them are. Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing), the only members of the Fantastic Four on Earth, are being teamed up in Marvel Two-In-One. The Two-In-One book is an old one, with the last issue coming out in 1983 and originally was about Ben teaming up with various members of the Marvel Universe. I’m so excited to see these two back in their own book. Johnny has been in Inhumans and Uncanny Avengers (and sometimes Amazing Spider-Man) and Ben has been seen in Infamous Iron Man and as a regular member of the crew in Guardians Of The Galaxy before the team was grounded during the second Civil War.

Johnny Blaze, the original Ghost Rider, returns in Spirits Of Vengeance and is joined by Blade as well as Demon siblings Satana and Daimon Hellstrom. Blaze hasn’t been seen in an on-going since All-New Ghost Rider a couple of years back and Blade hasn’t had one for far longer. I’m just glad to see these guys back in the fold, i do like Robbie Reyes but his recent Ghost Rider series was more like All-New Wolverine and Totally Awesome Hulk featuring Ghost Rider. Hopefully this is the start of something great and bringing back two legacy characters is a massive plus.

Legacy numbering is coming back. Many of these announced titles will be getting new numbering to reflect total number of issues from previous runs, so Amazing Spider-Man will go to issue 788 and Incredible Hulk will go to issue 708. This is a good thing because it reconstitutes the entire runs of each series and brings back part of the promise to restore legacy.

The Bad

Some of the biggest legacy characters don’t appear to be coming back. The cover for the new Incredible Hulk shows Amadeus Cho’s Hulk is still in the driving seat and the cover for Invincible Iron Man shows Riri Williams’ Ironheart as the main character of the series. So two of the biggest legacy characters of all time, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, remain out of the current Marvel Universe. Mighty Thor teases a death for Jane Foster’s Thor, but with recent news about the new Ultimate Thor being an old Thor enemy, it doesn’t appear that the Odinson is going to take his hammer back any time soon either. And yes, while i do love that that Johnny and Ben are back representing, the Fantastic Four are still absent and don’t be under any illusions....it’s fucking bullshit.

Sam Wilson is going to be The Falcon again and starring in his own series, but for me this feels like a massive regression of the character. I get that the ending of Secret Empire might make the Captain America name a poisoned chalice but could no-one honestly think of a new role for Sam to take on?

There are really only 2 new titles in this initiative, a lot of books remain the same (Ms. Marvel, Amazing Spider-Man) but others are being renamed (Totally Awesome Hulk to Incredible Hulk) but so far the only new books are Two-In-One and Spirits Of Vengeance. Not Ant-Man title, no Captain America, no Namor, no Fantastic Four and no Spider-Woman. Some legacy, huh?

The Worries

This won’t be a bullet point section but more my overall thoughts on this initiative, and obviously given the name it’s not an entirely glowing review for Marvel. To me it feels like they are not in touch with what their readers want, because whether it’s on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook or of course Tumblr, i have seen an overwhelmingly negative reception towards Marvel Legacy. The positives are few and far between because people don’t see how the world of Earth-616 will be in a post Secret Empire world, an event itself that has seen a large amount of criticism.

I hate to be that guy but it feels like Marvel haven’t learnt much from the success DC Comics are having right now with their Rebirth line. Sure they’ve got the legacy numbering, but they risk alienating newer readers who might not know that they have to go from Hulk to She-Hulk because of unnecessary changes. It also feels like Marvel are stretching themselves thin, because of one the reasons why Rebirth works is because they cut down the number of on-goings they had to 32 titles, concentrating their best talent on the meat and potatoes of their core titles, whereas Marvel now have increased their number of on-goings to 52. This is part of the reason why Marvel has a larger market share over DC because they have an over inflated lineup but it also means we have Bendis working on 6 titles at a time and watering down the creativity at the company.

I don’t know if Marvel are ignorant to their own problems though, because they’ve said that Secret Empire is the last of their events for a while now as they know people are getting event fatigue. But are they learning of the need for consistency in their lineup? Will Spirits Of Vengeance get 20 issues? That might be the litmus test for Marvel in general, if they can stand to sell books that aren’t selling 40k issues a month for the sake of artistic integrity.

Time will tell, hopefully we’ll get more information regarding story direction next month when we get October solicitations but right now i just feel a little let down by Marvel. I want to buy a Bruce Banner Hulk and i want to see a classic Avengers group dealing with modern issues.

Thanks for reading, enjoy your weekend!

#Marvel Legacy #Marvel Comics #Ghost Rider #Blade #Fantastic Four #Comic Books

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akidinparis · 6 years

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eliza’s guide to paris!

before i do a lil wrap-up post & reflect on my time abroad, i wanted to put together a little guide of my favorite places! i know some people going to paris in the coming semesters for studies or just for kicks, & if this can give you a bit of a boost going into a new city, i’d love that! plus, i tend to trust recommendations from people who have actually lived in the city for a while (shameless self-plug)

bakeries:

maison thevenin: okay this is my favorite bakery in the city. it’s right at the top of rue daguerre (for all of you going on the ies paris french studies program) & it’s both freakin adorable & heckin delicious. their croissants amandes are to DIE for, but their regular croissants au beurre are incredible as well. i also like their chaussons aux pommes (pastries filled with apples).

maison lohézic: my other favorite bakery! it’s in the 17è arrondissement, so it’s a little off the beaten path (not in the touristy parts of the city), but their baguettes are the best in the city (in my opinion) & they also have amazing croissants! they also have a whole bar of fancy desserts that are more expensive but also beautiful! my favorite one that i tried was an opéra (a dessert made of layers & layers of chocolate. i think. not totally sure tbh).

du pain et des idées: iconic parisien boulangerie. a little overrated, in my opinion (i try to stay away from bakeries with more than one location) but they have good baguettes & their croissants were pretty good! (can u tell what i normally buy from bakeries bc it’s croissants)

restaurants:

bistrot victoires: a quintessential french bistrot, right in the middle of the 1è arrondissement. a classmate recommended this to me & i brought stephen & tara there & then the rest of my family! reasonably priced, really nice servers (a rarity), & their daily specials are always excellent. good desserts & wine too! they also sat my entire family (six people) in their tiny little space. so nice of them. 10/10. (photo creds to macaela)

pho 13: i went to this pho spot with tara & stephen when they visited & it was super good! fairly inexpensive & generous portions. really really good spring rolls too. they only take cash, so come prepared!

holybelly: a bougie & super popular brunch spot, but their savory stack (pancakes with eggs & bacon on top) is incredible. i have it on good knowledge that their hash browns & black rice porridge are also very tasty. also, super good coffee. yum.

study spots:

anticafé: i think i went here with various friends at least half of the weekends i was in paris. coffee shops in paris are different than american coffee shops, in the sense that you can’t really bring your computer to do work. cafés there are for socializing & eating, not working. enter co-working spaces! you pay an hourly rate (usually somewhere around €5 an hour) & you get access to the wifi, the snack bar, & all the coffee you could want. anticafé beaubourg was our favorite, but unicorners café near the arts et métiers metro stop is also good.

café lomi: one of the few american-style coffee shops i found! it’s in a weird neighborhood (not the prettiest in the city) but their coffee is stupid good & the vibes in the actual coffee shop are so so good. it’s not too too far from the paris iv campus, which makes it convenient for students studying in that center. also lots of dogs come in. bonus.

craft coffee: another co-working space! right off of the canal saint-martin (one of the hippest spots in the city) & while it’s not total free access to coffee (one drink per hour) the quality of the latte i got made up for it. delicious. & really good wifi & lots of seats.

miscellaneous:

picard: for all you students out there! picard saved my butt! it’s expensive to buy groceries & it’s expensive to eat out, which presents A Dilemma. my host mom recommended this place to me! it’s basically a frozen food store, so you can get all kinds of frozen veggies & meat & desserts & stuff, but the real star are the frozen dinners. listen, i know frozen dinners have a terrible reputation, but that’s because american frozen meals are CRAP. i ended up really liking the stuff i got from picard! i’m mad the french even do frozen food well. literally each meal is like, €2 each & you throw it in the microwave for five or six minutes, & then it’s ready. the ingredients are pretty good quality too. i liked the chicken teriyaki & the salmon with veggie & potato purée the most!

monoprix: an obvious one, but it’s really like the french version of target. grocery store, drugstore, & clothing store all in one. literally you can pick up anything you need here. & they have squeeze-your-own orange juice machines! WHAT.

marché aux puces de saint-ouen: a giant flea-slash-antique market on the northern side of paris. there’s a bajillion little stalls with all kinds of stuff, from furniture to paintings to old newspapers. it’s pretty cool to go wander around! you have to walk past another market full of knock-off designer stuff to get to the good stuff. i didn’t buy anything, but it’s still really cool to go explore.

honor: a SUPER RAD outdoor coffee shop! the baristas were super nice & i had the best, strongest espresso of my entire life. i can also vouch for their food; it’s super super good! i mean, dude, they gave me ESPRESSO BUTTER for my banana bread??? amazing.

unity factory: one for the gym rats. you can’t join a gym in paris unless you have something called an RIB (don’t ask me what it stands for i forget) which you can’t get unless you have a french bank account. if you have one/are opening one, congrats! no problemo. for those of us who didn’t do that & don’t want to (me), unity factory gym in the 14è arrondissement will accept payment from american bank accounts if you say you’re an american student! it worked for me & a few others, but it’s not a guarantee, but it’s definitely worth looking into! it’s small, but fairly-well equipped, & pretty reasonably-priced.

jardins des serres d’auteuil: this botanical garden is SO RAD. a little far away from everything, but so worth the trip. it has a bunch of different greenhouses with different plants (the big tropical one is the best) & it’s a great place to go spend an afternoon!

salon de bulles: this is a tiny little comic book shop that i found on rue daguerre (not sure if there are more throughout the city) but in addition to comics, they have a bunch of french-authored illustrated books! it’s so cool. i spent a whole afternoon browsing.

le petit palais: paris has so many museums. like, so many. & obviously musée d’orsay & the louvre are iconic & must-sees, but my favorite museum was le petit palais! it’s small enough that i didn’t get bored, & there’s a really cool little garden on the inside. the building itself is awesome & the ceilings are painted beautifully. really really cool museum that you could go through in an hour or so.

wild & the moon: a bougie, mostly-raw-food lil place. they press their own juices & while it’s a lil on the pricier side, they’re all really good! i didn’t try the food there, but from what i saw, it looked freakin delicious. also lots of plants & stuff on the inside! not an everyday sort of place, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless.

#the paris diaries

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michaelmullen · 7 years

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Smelt Vs. Central Valley Farmers Part 3

This rant was inspired by an ongoing ”discussion” with a friend, and he floated this article: http://humanevents.com/2011/04/25/epa-regulations-strangling-america/

Here’s my response: Aside from the snide sarcasm rife throughout the Humanevents.com article you included here, I would take issue with a few points. First of all, ever since environmental laws first started to be enacted, the Right has claimed those laws will do grievous harm to the economy in general, causing a calamitous loss of revenue for business, driving corporations off shore, and generally sending everyone home en masse, jobless to dark houses where we will sit and slowly die, lonely and cold. Funny thing is, that seems to never come true. We have the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act--enhanced by additional regulation here in California--and we seem to still be trucking. I believe at this point every state in the union is happy to have those laws, and the prophecies of doom just never came true. This is one thing that has been causing me to cast a skeptical eye on such claims. I don't think all government regulation is spectacular, but necessary regulations that improve the health and well being of the populace in general? Absolutely. Anthropogenic climate change, however, is something I take very seriously. Doubtless you and I differ on this issue. But when we pass the (oh I don't know, let me see, I'll just pick a number) 500ppb (that's Parts Per Billion) mark on carbon content in the atmosphere and coastal cities throughout the world are inundated, we'll see which of us was right. That cap and trade idea was an attempt to deal with that problem. There are a number of systems that are governed by similar exchanges that seem to function just fine and don't complain about massive government interference. It wouldn't cause such a calamitous collapse. That's BS. So anyway, if you are right--and anthropogenic climate change "is not a thing"--then I'm wrong, life goes on. But if you are wrong, then the consequences of inaction will happen to us. Subject change: I like the new light bulbs. They last several times as long as incandescant bulbs, and the ones I put in my fixtures are 12 watts per, while giving as much light as a 60 watt bulb. What's wrong with that? So they cost more: the amount I save from using that bulb pays for itself, several times over. Those modern bulbs are waaaay better than those incredibly inefficient relics of the 20th century, the incandescent. Perhaps the author should be figuring ways that the NEW bulbs could be made here, rather than complaining that he can't buy the crappy old ones anymore. And we will save water--MILLIONS OF GALLONS--if we use low flow toilets. Did I mention already that we have been in the worst drought ever? How is THAT a bad idea? All we have to do is use toilets that are more efficient. Instead of spending 300 bucks for a new toilet in your condo, you spend 400. Big ass deal, what is the frickin problem with that?! Oh, and I really love the one about antibacterial soap. News flash, bacteria evolve. At an astounding rate. From last night to this morning ten thousand generations of bacteria can come and go. In fact, evolution of bacteria helps to prove the theory of evolution. And while we use antibacterial soap constantly (that doesn't really make us all that much healthier ) the bacteria--though they die by the billions--the survivors have resistance to that antibacterial in that soap. We use so much antibacterials everywhere that bacteria are evolving that are completely resistant to all antibiotics. This is happening NOW. Goodbye surgery, hello sepsis from paper cuts. Yeah, that guys a friggin genius. The person who casually dismisses this issue in that article is either criminally ignorant, or simply doesn't care. Oh wait, Ted Poe, he's a US Representative! Oh I get it now: his ideology is more important than the health of his constituents. What a great 'Murcan he is. I'm glad I don't live in his district. Wait, job creation? Sure, that is important, but since when is that the EPA's job? That's stupid. Is it the Dept of Education's job to worry about job creation? No, their function is education. Is it the Dept of Justice's job to worry about job creation? No, they do lawyer things. I don't know what kind of logical fallacy that is off hand, but I can tell you it is one. Rep. Poe says "You can't make this stuff up" (tidy little homage to Rush Limbaugh) but the fact is, he makes some of this shit up. Lastly, his last paragraph: gas was "nearly $5 a gallon" in 2006-2008, I believe (during the W Administration). Fuel prices had climbed because we were, y'know, at WAR and in the worst recession since god invented the word. It's pretty well established that energy prices in the US tend to follow world prices. EPA policies did not drive up energy costs: they have been dropping for years, and that was during an Administration that was EPA friendly. The drop in energy prices might not have anything to do with the EPA, but the EPA policies certainly don't seem to have led to any rise in prices that Rep Poe is talking about. Anyhoo, lastly, the dust from farms point that the author brought up, I don't know what that's about and don't want to take the time to research it right now. It sounds superfluous, but I can tell you, given his track record so far, I imagine this is based on some distortion, assumption, or lack of understanding. Last of all, cow farts: this is one that I have indulged in some hilarity over the years. perhaps the science is right on, but that sure is funny. On the other hand, I always come back to this argument against this tidbit: what about the millions of buffalo that used to roam throughout North America from the Rockies to New York? From Canada to Texas? Didn't they fart? I have always been skeptical of that one, and it's just too comical to take seriously... But back to the meat and potatos, alot of this anti EPA alarmism is the same GOP BS we've been seeing for years. I doubt you read the previous thing I wrote. I'll be surprised if you read this one. And I'm not going to change your mind anyway. I wouldn't be able to if I was Marcus Aurelius. So I imagine that this has all been just, as my dad would have said, pissing in the wind. But it was good for me to write it I guess.

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